Category: Story

SMALL COLLEGE NEWS … There is a new No. 1 in the NCAA Division III men’s rankings for the first time this season following Messiah’s 2-0 loss to York College on headers by Mike O’Connell and Andy Stromberg. Christopher Newport took over as the top-ranked team in the NSCAA/adidas rankings — the first time in school history it has been No. 1 in any sport.

For the fifth straight week, there is a new No. 1 in the NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division II men’s rankings.  Less-McRae is No. 1 after Cal State Los Angeles lost twice on its swing through Northern California.

MEN’S RANKINGS:
NCAA Division II 1. Lees-McRae, 2. Tampa, 3. Millersville
NCAA Division III 1. Christopher Newport, 2. Ohio Wesleyan, 3. Messiah,

WOMEN’S RANKINGS:
NCAA Division II 1. Seattle Pacific, 2. West Florida, 3. Saint Rose
NCAA Division III 1. Messiah, 2. Puget Sound, 3. Williams

MEN’S NEWS … No. 1 Akron hasn’t lacked for stars in its 12-0-0 run to start the season, but the Zips, who lost 2008 Hermann Trophy winner Steve Zakuani to MLS’s Seattle Sounders FC, have been getting major contributions from sophomore Teal Bunbury, the son of former Canada international Alex Bunbury.

Teal Bunbury scored his fifth goal in four games Tuesday to lead Akron to a 2-0 victory at Virginia Tech. He scored his 10th goal of the season, all in the last eight games, taking a pass from fellow sophomore Kofi Sarkodie and slipping through the Virginia Tech defense.

Junior Blair Gavin put the game away for good with third penalty kick of the season in 80th minute. Freshman goalkeeper David Meves earned his eighth shutout. The Zips extended their string of games in which they have not allowed a goal in the first half to 24.

Tuesday Results

* TOP 25 ACTION. Eight other teams in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25 were in action on Tuesday night …

— Freshman Enzo Martinez set up sophomores Billy Schuler and Kirk Urso with his first collegiate multi-assist game in No. 3 North Carolina’s 2-0 win over Campbell that ended a three-game losing skid to the Camels. Martinez was starting in place of injured midfielder Cameron Brown.

— A pair of outstanding diving saves from senior Akira Fitzgerald preserved No. 4 Wake Forest’s 1-0 at College of Charleston. Freshman defender Anthony Arena had the game’s only goal off Austin da Luz‘s corner kick. The assist was da Luz’s ACC-leading eighth of the season.

— No. 6 Maryland got early goals from Drew Yates and Jason Herrick and held on to win, 2-1, at No. 16 Georgetown. Maryland players wore white wrist bands with “A.L. #18” written in black marker for teammate Alex Lee, who was struck by a vehicle in Washington Saturday night and was only released from the hospital hours prior to kickoff.

— A pair of goals by Federico Nachmann and Alan Sanchez in a 30-second span of the second half led 12th-ranked N.C. State to a 2-0 win over visiting Georgia Southern.

— Visiting Liberty held No. 17 Virginia to a 1-1 tie. The Cavs broke open a scoreless game in the 78th minute when freshman Will Bates put away the rebound of Brian Ownby‘s shot off the post, but Liberty responded less than two minutes later when its leading scorer, Darren Amoo headed in a corner kick.

— No. 20 Brown improved to 7-0-4 with a 3-1 victory at Stevenson Field. Nick Elenz-Martin, Thomas McNamara and David Walls scored for the Bears, who rallied from a 1-0 deficit after 19 minutes.

— Cole Grossman set up freshmen Andrew Wenger and Ryan Finley for goals off corner kicks and scored the third goal himself in No. 25 Duke’s 3-0 win over UNC Greensboro.

WOMEN’S NEWS … Falling to North Carolina, 7-2, was no way to start the season, but No. 4 UCLA has recovered to run off 11 straight victories after the loss in Chapel Hill and 0-0 tie with San Diego in its second game.

The Bruins got their biggest scare during their streak on Sunday when they trailed Arizona State, 1-0, at the half, but they eventually won, 3-2, on Lauren Barnes‘ golden goal. The win extended the nation’s longest home unbeaten streak to 60 matches.

UCLA lost Canadian star Kara Lang for the rest of the season with a knee injury last month, but it still has one of the nation’s top 1-2 scoring threats in Sydney Leroux, the 2008 Under-20 Women’s World Cup MVP, and Lauren Cheney, the 2008 Olympic gold-medalist. The Bruins have also been getting strong play from freshmen Zakiya Bywaters, Chelsea Cline, Ahsha Smith and Lucretia Lee, the daughter of former NFL player Mike Lee.

UCLA take its 21-game Pac-10 winning streak to the Bay Area this weekend for games against No. 17 California on Friday and top-ranked Stanford on Sunday.

Tuesday Result

WOMEN’S NEWS … No. 1 Stanford (13-0-0) is one of only three team unbeaten teams with four weeks remaining in the regular season. No. 5 South Carolina improved to 13-0-1 with a 2-0 win over Alabama on Sunday, while Dayton is 9-0-5 after beating Saint Louis, 2-1, in overtime.

— Senior Blakely Mattern scored the two goals 100 seconds apart against Alabama, and junior goalie Mollie Patton needed to make only one save to earn her 11th shutout of the season. After four one-goal wins and a 1-1 tie at Mississippi State — the Gamecocks’ only blemish — the 2-0 win was their most comfortable SEC victory. South Carolina has two victories over ranked teams — No. 14 UCF and No. 21 Mississippi. Its season now hits the toughest stretch with four of its next five games on the road, beginning with a match against No. 24 Georgia in Athens on Friday night.

— For the second time in two weeks, senior Mandi Back had a golden goal to for the Flyers, scoring in the 109th minute to give them the win over Saint Louis. A week earlier, she scored a golden goal with four seconds left in overtime to defeat La Salle, 2-1. Back, a three-time Atlantic-10 first-team selection, has 12 game-winning goals in her career, three this season. “The girls found a way to win,” said Dayton coach Mike Tucker. “I love this group because they persevere and battle; they find a way to get great results.”

* FEWEST LOSSES:
Stanford 13-0-0
South Carolina 13-0-1
Dayton 9-0-5
Portland 12-1-0
North Carolina 11-1-1
UCLA 11-1-1
Samford 8-1-3
Michigan State 7-1-4

Women’s Player of the Week: Danielle Foxhoven, Portland
Women’s Team of the Week

* LEADING GOAL SCORERS:
1. Morgan Marlborough, Nebraska  19
2. Sarah Hagen, Milwaukee 16
3. Danielle Foxhoven, Portland 15
3. Kelley O’Hara, Stanford 15
5. Whitney Palmer, Oklahoma 14
5. Britany Curry, Texas State 14
7. Jessica Fuccello, Penn 12
7. Rochelle VanBuskirk, UC Davis 12
7. Sylvia Kowalski, Canisius 12
7.  Christen Press, Stanford 1

SMALL COLLEGE NEWS … It doesn’t pay to be No. 1 in the NCAA Division II men’s rankings. Unbeaten Cal State Los Angeles, the fourth different No. 1 team in four weeks in the NSCAA/adidas poll, was shocked by Humboldt State, 3-0, and then beaten by Sonoma State, 1-0, two days later in front of 1,142 fans at Seawolf Field, the largest regular-season crowd in school history.

Humboldt State entered the game with a 2-8-2 record but upset the Golden Eagles, getting two first-half goals from striker Josh Suggs. Sonoma State, which got a first-half goal from Ryan Hall to beat Cal State Los Angeles, had only lost for the first time in 12 games two days earlier when it fell to defending national champion Cal State Dominguez Hills, 2-0.

MEN’S NEWS … Northwestern, ninth in this week’s Soccer America Men’s Top 25 with a 6-1-4 record, is first in the initial Men’s Division I RPI index the NCAA released Tuesday.

(Click here for the complete men’s RPI.)

The RPI — Ratings Percentage Index — is the most important of the criteria it uses to determine the 64-team field for the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament. The RPI is a mathematical formula designed to objectively compare results and strength of schedule.

Akron and UCLA, 1-2 in the Soccer America rankings, are 2-3 in the RPI index. Ten unranked teams are in the RPI Top 25 (see below). The highest ranked teams that did not make the RPI Top 25 are No. 5 UC Santa Barbara, No. 7 Louisville and No. 10 Connecticut. The four highest ranked Big East teams — Louisville, Connecticut, South Florida and Georgetown — with a combined eight losses did not make the cut, but 7-4-1 Notre Dame at No. 22 and 7-5-0 DePaul (unranked) did.

The ACC leads all conferences with six teams in the RPI top 10 — including North Carolina, Wake Forest and N.C. State at 4-5-6 — and the Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Ivy League, Pac-10 and WCC have two apiece. Reflecting the diversity in the men’s game, 14 of the 22 Division I conferences that receive automatic bids are represented.

* MEN’S SOCCER (RPI TOP 25)
1 Northwestern, Big Ten (9)
2 Akron, Mid-American (1)
3 UCLA Pac-10 (2)
4 North Carolina, ACC (3)
5 Wake Forest, ACC (4)
6 N.C. St., ACC (12)
7 South Carolina, Conference USA (NR)
8 Duke, ACC (T25)
9 San Diego, WCC (NR)
10 Portland, WCC (NR)
11 Butler, Horizon (18)
12 Maryland, ACC (6)
13 Monmouth, Northeast (11)
14 New Mexico, MPSF (NR)
15 California, Pac-10 (13)
16 Tulsa, Conference USA (NR)
17 Indiana, Big Ten (23)
18 DePaul, Big East (NR)
19 Dartmouth, Ivy (NR)
20 Drake, Missouri Valley (NR)
21 American, Patriot (NR)
22 Virginia, ACC (17)
23 Charlotte, Atlantic 10 (NR)
24 Notre Dame, Big East (22)
25 Harvard, Ivy (8)

* LEE IN STABLE CONDITION. According to the University of Maryland, sophomore defender Alex Lee “has shown incredible progress over the past two days” and was listed in stable condition at George Washington University Hospital after being struck by a vehicle while crossing a street in the District of Columbia Saturday night. Lee is a converted forward who started all 11 games for the defending national champion Terrapins on defense. He will be out of practice and competition indefinitely. Currently, no timetable has been set for his return to the field.

Men’s Player of the Week: Ronnie Bouemboue, N.C. State
Men’s Team of the Week

* LEADING GOAL SCORERS:
1. Andrew Bulls, UMBC 14
2. JC Banks, Green Bay 11
4. Andy Stadler, George Washington 9
4. Andrew Wiedeman, California 10
5. Matthew Skonicki, Winthrop 11
6. Teal Bunbury, Akron 9
6. Chris Cutshaw, Bradley 9
6. Giovanni Destasio, Iona 9
6. Matt Eliason, Northwestern 9
6. Levi Houapeu, UMBC 9
6. Conor O’Brien, Bucknell 9